The Trumpet Shall Sound (Handel’s Messiah)

The Aria from ‘Messiah’ (G. F. Handel), sung by Bass Rodney Sharpe at the Easter Vigil Service in St. Mary’s Basilica, Phoenix. Accompanied and directed by Gordon Stevenson, with Josh Whitehouse, trumpeter.

[@martinmclaughlan9426]

Fantastic. Well done to all 👏👏👏👏

[@doubledee9675]

The trumpet may sound (although I did not hear it in this clip). But the bass was very quiet indeed, and the whole pace was too slow.

[@GordonStevenson]

Thanks for listening. To respond to your observations, the reason the bass sounded quieter than the organ in this clip is because it’s taken from the live streamed recording during the context of the Service, and the direct mics are in front of the organ and choir, while the vocalist was quite a distance away, closer to the congregation, to give maximum vocal clarity and audibility in the room, hence why there is a fair bit of the acoustic picked up too. Therefore, the natural sound was very different from what is heard here, and, indeed, Rod, our bass, was anything but quiet! Equally, the trumpet (which I still think can be heard fairly clearly on this recording) was placed a distance from the live stream mics too, with the same result. Regarding the pace, it’s a large building, and, given the challenges of acoustics and the aforementioned distance between organ, trumpet and vocalist, it really couldn’t go any faster. Perhaps in a concert setting, with instruments and voices centrally placed, we may go a shade faster, although I must say I really don’t feel it is too slow; I have heard some performances where the faster tempo destroys the character and expressiveness of it.

[@doubledee9675]

@@GordonStevenson Thank you for your comments, and the explanation of the problems the venue gave you. We all have our own ideas about things like pace!

[@doubledee9675]

@@GordonStevenson Thank you for going into the detailed explanation, which really clarifies the position for me.